This chapter and many that follow it repeat the
genealogies we have hitherto met with in the sacred history, and
put them all together, with considerable additions. We may be
tempted, it may be, to think it would have been well if they had
not been written, because, when they come to be compared with other
parallel places, there are differences found, which we can scarcely
accommodate to our satisfaction; yet we must not therefore stumble
at the word, but bless God that the things necessary to salvation
are plain enough. And since the wise God has thought fit to write
these things to us, we should not pass them over unread. All
scripture is profitable, though not all alike profitable; and we
may take occasion for good thoughts and meditations even from those
parts of scripture that do not furnish so much matter for
profitable remarks as some other parts. These genealogies, 1. Were
then of great use, when they were here preserved, and put into the
hands of the Jews after their return from Babylon; for the
captivity, like the deluge, had put all into confusion, and they,
in that dispersion and despair, would be in danger of losing the
distinctions of their tribes and families. This therefore revives
the ancient landmarks even of some of the tribes that were carried
captive into Assyria. Perhaps it might invite the Jews to study the
sacred writings which had been neglected, to find the names of
their ancestors, and the rise of their families in them. 2. They
are still of some use for the illustrating of the scripture-story,
and especially for the clearing of the pedigrees of the Messiah,
that it might appear that our blessed Saviour was, according to the
prophecies which went before of him, the son of David, the son of
Judah, the son of Abraham, the son of Adam. And, now that he has
come for whose sake these registers were preserved, the Jews since
have so lost all their genealogies that even that of the priests,
the most sacred of all, is forgotten, and they know not of any one
man in the world that can prove himself of the house of Aaron. When
the building is reared the scaffolds are removed. When the promised
Seed has come the line that was to lead to him is broken off. In
this chapter we have an abstract of all the genealogies in the book
of Genesis, till we come to Jacob. I. The descents from Adam to
Noah and his sons, out of Gen. v., ver. 1-4. II. The posterity of Noah's sons,
by which the earth was repeopled, out of Gen. x., ver. 5-23. III. The descents from
Shem to Abraham, out of Gen. xi., ver. 24-28. IV. The posterity of Ishmael,
and of Abraham's sons by Keturah, out of Gen. xxv. ver. 29-35. V. The posterity of
Esau, out of Gen. xxxvi., ver.
36-54. These, it is likely, were passed over lightly in
Genesis; and therefore, according to the law of the school, we are
made to go over that lesson again which we did not learn well.

Genealogies. (b. c. 4004.)

St-Takla.org Image:
Stained glass window in south-west transept of Canterbury Cathedral depicting
Methuselah, who lived to be 969 years old - photographed by Robert Scarth, 23
August 2008

1 Adam, Sheth, Enosh, 2 Kenan,
Mahalaleel, Jered, 3 Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4
Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 5 The sons of Japheth; Gomer,
and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
6 And the sons of Gomer; Ashchenaz, and Riphath, and
Togarmah. 7 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish,
Kittim, and Dodanim. 8 The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim,
Put, and Canaan. 9 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah,
and Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah; Sheba,
and Dedan. 10 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be mighty
upon the earth. 11 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and
Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 12 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (of
whom came the Philistines,) and Caphthorim. 13 And Canaan
begat Zidon his firstborn, and Heth, 14 The Jebusite also,
and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, 15 And the Hivite, and
the Arkite, and the Sinite, 16 And the Arvadite, and the
Zemarite, and the Hamathite. 17 The sons of Shem; Elam, and
Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and
Gether, and Meshech. 18 And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and
Shelah begat Eber. 19 And unto Eber were born two sons: the
name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was
divided: and his brother's name was Joktan. 20 And
Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
21 Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah, 22 And Ebal,
and Abimael, and Sheba, 23 And Ophir, and Havilah, and
Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 24 Shem,
Arphaxad, Shelah, 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug,
Nahor, Terah, 27 Abram; the same is Abraham.

This paragraph has Adam for its
first word and Abraham for its last. Between the creation of
the former and the birth of the latter were 2000 years, almost the
one-half of which time Adam himself lived. Adam was the common
father of our flesh, Abraham the common father of the faithful. By
the breach which the former made of the covenant of innocency, we
were all made miserable; by the covenant of grace made with the
latter, we all are, or may be, made happy. We all are, by nature,
the seed of Adam, branches of that wild olive. Let us see to it
that, by faith, we become the seed of Abraham (Rom. iv. 11, 12), that we be grafted into
the good olive and partake of its root and fatness.

I. The first four verses of this paragraph,
and the last four, which are linked together by Shem (v. 4, 24), contain the
sacred line of Christ from Adam to Abraham, and are inserted in his
pedigree, Luke iii.
34-38, the order ascending as here it descends. This
genealogy proves the falsehood of that reproach, As for this
man, we know not whence he is. Bishop Patrick well observes
here that, a genealogy being to be drawn of the families of the
Jews, this appears as the peculiar glory of the Jewish nation, that
they alone were able to derive their pedigree from the first man
that God created, which no other nation pretended to, but abused
themselves and their posterity with fabulous accounts of their
originals, the Arcadians fancying that they were before the moon,
the people of Thessaly that they sprang from stones, the Athenians
that they grew out of the earth, much like the vain imaginations
which some of the philosophers had of the origin of the universe.
The account which the holy scripture gives both of the creation of
the world and of the rise of nations carries with it as clear
evidences of its own truth as those idle traditions do of their own
vanity and falsehood.

II. All the verses between repeat the
account of the replenishing of the earth by the sons of Noah after
the flood. 1. The historian begins with those who were strangers to
the church, the sons of Japhet, who were planted in the isles of
the Gentiles, those western parts of the world, the countries of
Europe. Of these he gives a short account (v. 5-7), because with these the Jews
had hitherto had little or no dealings. 2. He proceeds to those who
had many of them been enemies to the church, the sons of Ham, who
moved southward towards Africa and those parts of Asia which lay
that way. Nimrod the son of Cush began to be an oppressor, probably
to the people of God in his time. But Mizraim, from whom came the
Egyptians, and Canaan, from whom came the Canaanites, are both of
them names of great note in the Jewish story; for with their
descendants the Israel of God had severe struggles to get out of
the land of Egypt and into the land of Canaan; and therefore the
branches of Mizraim are particularly recorded (v. 11, 12), and of Canaan,
v. 13-16. See at
what a rate God valued Israel when he gave Egypt for their
ransom (Isa. xliii. 3),
and cast out all these nations before them, Ps. lxx. 8. 3. He then gives an account of
those that were the ancestors and allies of the church, the
posterity of Shem, v.
17-23. These peopled Asia, and spread themselves
eastward. The Assyrians, Syrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and
Arabians, descended from these. At first the originals of the
respective nations were known; but at this day, we have reason to
think, the nations are so mingled with one another, by the
enlargement of commerce and dominion, the transplanting of
colonies, the carrying away of captives, and many other
circumstances, that no one nation, no, nor the greatest part of
any, is descended entire from any one of these fountains. Only this
we are sure of, that God has created of one blood all nations of
men; they have all descended from one Adam, one Noah. Have
we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Mal. ii. 10. Our register hastens to
the line of Abraham, breaking off abruptly from all the other
families of the sons of Noah but that of Arphaxad, from whom Christ
was to come. The great promise of the Messiah (says bishop Patrick)
was translated from Adam to Seth, from him to Shem, from him to
Eber, and so to the Hebrew nation, who were entrusted, above all
nations, with that sacred treasure, till the promise was performed
and the Messiah had come, and then that nation was made not a
people.

Genealogies. (b. c. 1896.)

28 The sons of Abraham; Isaac, and Ishmael.
29 These are their generations: The firstborn of
Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 30
Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema, 31 Jetur,
Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael. 32 Now
the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and
Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons
of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan. 33 And the sons of Midian;
Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these
are the sons of Keturah. 34 And Abraham begat Isaac.
The sons of Isaac; Esau and Israel. 35 The sons of Esau;
Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. 36 The
sons of Eliphaz; Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and
Timna, and Amalek. 37 The sons of Reuel; Nahath, Zerah,
Shammah, and Mizzah. 38 And the sons of Seir; Lotan, and
Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan.
39 And the sons of Lotan; Hori, and Homam: and Timna
was Lotan's sister. 40 The sons of Shobal; Alian, and
Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. And the sons of Zibeon; Aiah,
and Anah. 41 The sons of Anah; Dishon. And the sons of
Dishon; Amram, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. 42 The
sons of Ezer; Bilhan, and Zavan, and Jakan. The sons of
Dishan; Uz, and Aran. 43 Now these are the kings that
reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the
children of Israel; Bela the son of Beor: and the name of his city
was Dinhabah. 44 And when Bela was dead, Jobab the
son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 45 And when
Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his
stead. 46 And when Husham was dead, Hadad the son of Bedad,
which smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and
the name of his city was Avith. 47 And when Hadad was
dead, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 48 And when
Samlah was dead, Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his
stead. 49 And when Shaul was dead, Baal-hanan the son of
Achbor reigned in his stead. 50 And when Baal-hanan was
dead, Hadad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city
was Pai; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the
daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. 51 Hadad died
also. And the dukes of Edom were; duke Timnah, duke Aliah, duke
Jetheth, 52 Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,
53 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar, 54 Duke Magdiel,
duke Iram. These are the dukes of Edom.

All nations but the seed of Abraham are
already shaken off from this genealogy: they have no part nor lot
in this matter. The Lord's portion is his people. Of them he
keeps an account, knows them by name; but those who are strangers
to him he beholds afar off. Not that we are to conclude that
therefore no particular persons of any other nation but the seed of
Abraham found favour with God. It was a truth, before Peter
perceived it, that in every nation he that feared God and
wrought righteousness was accepted of him. Multitudes will be
brought to heaven out of all nations (Rev. vii. 9), and we are willing to
hope there were many, very many, good people in the world, that lay out of the
pale of God's covenant of peculiarity with Abraham, whose names were in the book
of life, though not descended from any of the following families written in this
book, and you can find
more about that here on
st-takla.org on other commentaries and
dictionary entries. The Lord knows those
that are his. But Israel was a chosen nation, elect in type;
and no other nation, in its national capacity, was so dignified and
privileged as the Jewish nation was. That is the holy nation which
is the subject of the sacred story; and therefore we are next to
shake off all the seed of Abraham but the posterity of Jacob only,
which were all incorporated into one nation and joined to the Lord,
while the other descendants from Abraham, for aught that appears,
were estranged both from God and from one another.

I. We shall have little to say of the
Ishmaelites. They were the sons of the bondwoman, that were
to be cast out and not to be heirs with the child of the promise;
and their case was to represent that of the unbelieving Jews, who
were rejected (Gal. iv.
22, &c.), and therefore there is little notice taken
of that nation. Ishmael's twelve sons are just named here
(v. 29-31), to
show the performance of the promise God made to Abraham, in answer
to his prayer for him, that, for Abraham's sake, he should become a
great nation, and particularly that he should beget twelve princes,
Gen. xvii. 20.

II. We shall have little to say of the
Midianites, who descended from Abraham's children by
Keturah. They were children of the east (probably Job was
one of them), and were separated from Isaac, the heir of the
promise (Gen. xxv. 6), and
therefore they are only named here, v. 32. The sons of Jokshan, the son of
Keturah, are named also, and the sons of Midian (v. 32, 33), who became most
eminent, and perhaps gave denomination to all these families, as
Judah to the Jews.

III. We shall not have much to say of the
Edomites. They had an inveterate enmity to God's Israel; yet
because they descended from Esau, the son of Isaac, we have here an
account of their families, and the names of some of their famous
men, v. 35 to the
end. Some slight differences there are between some of the names
here, and as we had them in Gen.
xxxvi., whence this whole account is taken. Three of
four names that were written with a Vau there are written
with a Jod here, probably the pronunciation being altered,
as is usual in other languages. We now write many words very
differently from what they were written but 200 years ago. Let us
take occasion, from the reading of these genealogies, to think, 1.
Of the multitudes that have gone through this world, have acted
their part in it, and then quitted it. Job, even in his early day,
saw not only every man drawing after him, but innumerable
before him, Job xxi.
33. All these, and all theirs, had their day; many of
them made a mighty noise and figure in the world; but their day
came to fall, and their place knew them no more. The paths of death
are trodden paths, but vestigia nulla retrorsum—none can
retrace their steps. 2. Of the providence of God, which keeps
up the generations of men, and so preserves that degenerate race,
though guilty and obnoxious, in being upon earth. How easily could
he cut it off without either a deluge or a conflagration! Write but
all the children of men childless, as some are, and in a few years
the earth will be eased of the burden under which it groans; but
the divine patience lets the trees that cumber the ground not only
grow, but propagate. As one generation, even of sinful men, passes
away, another comes (Eccl. i.
4; Num. xxxii. 14), and will do so while the earth
remains. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.